The apparently violent death of a 16-year-old girl at the train station in Friedland, Lower Saxony, continues to cause horror. According to the current state of the investigation, a 31-year-old man pushed the teenager in front of a passing freight train. According to media reports, further details emerged over the weekend.
On Friday afternoon, the Göttingen public prosecutor's office announced that the 31-year-old Iraqi citizen had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He is strongly suspected of killing the teenager by pushing her in front of the train, which was traveling at a speed of about 100 kilometers per hour.
Shortly before, the police had been called to the station because a man was causing a disturbance. When a patrol arrived, they found the 31-year-old among others. He approached the officers on his own initiative and led them to the teenager's body on the platform. He appeared calm and stated that he had seen the girl lying there. There was no apparent suspicion of foul play at that point. A breathalyzer test showed a blood alcohol level of 1.35.
Initially, the police assumed it was an accident. In the evening, the 31-year-old man attracted attention with aggressive behavior at a reception center where he was being housed and was taken to a psychiatric clinic.
DNA tests carried out in the meantime revealed traces of the man on the shoulder of the murdered girl. According to these traces, a “strong” grip can be assumed. A detention order was then issued against the man on suspicion of manslaughter. According to the public prosecutor's office, there is no known previous connection between the suspect and his alleged victim. The 31-year-old did not comment on the allegations against him.
As reported by the “Bild” newspaper over the weekend, the girl was on the phone with her grandfather during the incident. He reported hearing the 16-year-old screaming, according to the report. According to several media reports, the teenager's parents had expressed doubts about the initial assumption that it was an accident early on. Their community was reportedly horrified by the crime. According to an NDR report, the 31-year-old had been diagnosed with “paranoid schizophrenia” in the past.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the man had first applied for asylum in Braunschweig in August 2022. His application was rejected and he was ordered to be deported to Lithuania. An appeal against this decision was dismissed by the Göttingen Administrative Court in February 2025. An application for detention pending deportation was rejected by the Hanover District Court on July 17 because there was no significant risk of him absconding. The man then re-registered as an asylum seeker at the Friedland reception center.
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